It was fantastic meeting so many enthusiastic people in Falmouth on 1st April for a beach clean as part of Falmouth Spring Clean Days. We arrived just after 9am to set up for 10am and the sun was beaming but a few dark clouds were about. The day consisted of several brief showers but that didn’t deter the beach litter pickers who were keen to help come rain or shine (some travelling from Penzance and Bournemouth just for the event).

We had recently received funding from the Tesco 5p Bag charge and was able to provide volunteers with lots of new facilities and equipment to help collect litter. This included heavy duty aluminium litter pickers (and bag hoops), recycled transparent refuse bags, washable gloves, first aid kits if needed to name just a few things purchased.

There was a steady flow throughout the day of helpers which covered:
Gyllyngvase Beach
Pathways and fields from Gylly to Swanpool
Swanpool Beach and around the pool in that area
Pathways and some rocky areas (as tide went out) towards Castle Beach
Castle Beach itself and some volunteers continued up to Pendennis Point
Queen Mary Gardens and surrounding area

The first Scuba Divers organised by Mark Milburn entered the water around 10.30am to collect any debris they could find, some emerging with traffic cone, a car tyre (from a boat used as a bumber) and several other bits which some couldn’t even be identified due to corrosion etc.

16 bags of debris was collected by 45 volunteers (34 beach cleaners and 11 divers). It was great to realise that the beaches in Falmouth are very clean in comparison to other areas, but it was still a worthwhile clean with nearly half the debris collected going to the Flotsam & Jetsam Project for it to be recycled into pieces of art to raise awareness.

Also a big thank you to Anita from Fathoms Free for help working with all parties involved in bringing this day together as well as talking/organising the beach cleaners as they arrived through to when they had finished.

DiveMagazine kindly wrote an article about the event shortly afterwards – DiveMagazine